A variety of electronic equipment enclosures (also referred to as cabinets) are available for housing various types of electronic equipment including, for example, telecommunications equipment. Many of these enclosures are provided with one or more exhaust vents for exhausting hot air from within the enclosure using fans or others means. These exhaust vents are commonly provided with electro-mechanical or pneumatic actuators for opening the exhaust vents when necessary to exhaust hot air from within the enclosure, and for closing the exhaust vents to protect the electronic equipment within the enclosure from the external environment.
As recognized by the inventor hereof, there are several disadvantages to existing exhaust vent actuators, including their relatively high cost and complexity.